Devils hit the links for charity

Devils players past and present came together Wednesday at the Upper Montclair Country Club for the 13th Alumni Association Charity Golf Classic.

New faces Ryane Clowe, Rostislav Olesz, Michael Ryder, Cory Schneider and Mike Foligno were in attendance, as were new Devils and Prudential Center CEO Scott O'Neil, and President of Business Operations Hugh Weber. New owners Joshua Harris and David Blitzer were represented by HRS CEO Tim Hartnett.

They were all welcomed into the Devils family by club alumni Bruce Driver, Ken Daneyko and Jim Dowd.

"This is our biggest fundraising event for the year," said Driver, the Alumni Association Director. "Certainly with new ownership involved and with Scott and Hugh's help, we're looking for a bright future here with the New Jersey Devils Alumni Association and a lot of growth."

The annual event, which featured a silent auction for exclusive Devils memorabilia, supports the association's charitable efforts in the community.

"We've been around since the year 2000," Driver said. "Things have grown slowly, but we do look forward to a lot of positive things in the future. Throughout the year, we do get involved in the community a lot. There are four of us that work directly with the team doing a lot of community relations stuff: Jim Dowd, Ken Daneyko, Grant Marshall and myself spend a lot of time in the community giving back in many different ways. We work closely with youth hockey organizations, we work closely with the schools as well to support the community in the best way possible as much as we can."

Several of the current Devils took advantage of the perfect, late-summer day to showcase their golf skills. Travis Zajac and Clowe took home Longest Drive honors, while Ryan Carter earned Closest to the Pin (four inches).

In team play, Andy Greene helped lead his foursome to a first-place finish with score of 59. Steve Bernier's group came in second (59), and Carter's group finished third (60).

Dave Maley, Randy McKay and Mike Peluso took part in the outing for the first time. Maley was a member of the first Devils team to reach the postseason in 1988. McKay and Peluso were on the "Crash Line" with Bobby Holik that was instrumental in the Devils' 1995 championship. McKay captured a second title with New Jersey in 2000.

With the golf tournament in the books, training camp is right around the corner: rookies report for physicals on Monday, veterans on Wednesday. The Devils open the regular season at Pittsburgh on Oct. 3. The home opener is Oct. 4 against the Islanders.